Body camera companies spar for contract to equip NYPD

Demonstrators protest outside a public hearing on the NYPD's proposed purchase of Vievu body cameras on Thursday. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

City residents and representatives competing body camera manufactures argued at a public hearing on Thursday over which company deserves the six-figure contract to outfit the NYPD with eyes and ears.

The city is expected to agree to a $6,424,035 contract with Vievu LLC, which will rolled out 1,000 body cameras for police over the summer and plan to expand the initiative across the department's 35,000 person force.

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The Seattle-based company won the contract after 54 venders bid for it.

But Isaiah Fields — a representative from Taser, one of the spurned bidders — suggested Vievu was selected because it was the cheaper option.

"I wouldn't make a decision based on what's cheaper. I would make a decision based on what's the best equipment for the officers of the NYPD and for the citizens of New York," he said.

Pastor Kevin Osbourne speaks against the use of Vievu body cameras at the public hearing on Thursday. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

Fields said Taser, whose former vice president of marketing and international sales left the company and later founded VieVue, has been in the body cam business for a decade years and today have deals in 35 major cities.

"We can deliver the most secure system at scale and we've proven it again and again," Fields said.

VieVu's website says the company has been manufacturing wearable cameras for nine years.

Other residents at the hearing cited reports of VieVu cameras erasing video, though police sources told the Daily News those instances were likely the result of human error.

NYPD Chief Contract Officer Frank Bello listens to testimony both for and against the use of Vievu body cameras during a public hearing. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

Pastor Michael Faulkner, a former New York Jets defensive lineman and 2017 mayoral candidate, said he's concerned about the history of hiccups with equipment.

"A faulty camera is a lawyer's dream and the community's nightmare," he said.

Kevin Osborne, a pastor from Bedford-Stuyvesant, doubted the company's qualifications.

"I'm asking you to reconsider. I don't want police to respond with faulty equipment," he said.

Isaiah Fields, VP of Taser International, suggested Vievu was selected because it was the cheaper option. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

VieVu's vice president of strategy Gray Hudkins, said the company, which makes cameras for police and civilians, already sells the NYPD equipment and has been negotiating the body camera deal for two years.

"We followed the rules. We presented our technology. We won it fair and square."

The NYPD was ordered by a federal judge to adopt the use of body cameras after it's use of the stop-and-frisk policy was deemed unconstitutional.

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The contract was negotiated for a five year term with a three-year renewal option at the end.